


Clopin Trouillefou Presents: A Not-So-Disney Movie

by Catrillion



Category: Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), Disney - All Media Types, Hercules (1997), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), The Princess and the Frog (2009), Treasure Planet (2002)
Genre: Comedy, Crossover, Gen, Meta, No Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:08:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22933819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catrillion/pseuds/Catrillion
Summary: Clopin already had it hard enough having fans as a background character, but things have gotten even more difficult as time has passed and left his movies to slowly fall into obscurity. When Disney rejects his proposal for a third Hunchback film, he decides to take matters into his own hands and round up a team of other underappreciated Disney characters to make a movie of their own.
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Have you ever seen Who Framed Roger Rabbit? This works pretty much exactly like that.
> 
> Really I just wanna have something on the sillier side on here, so I hope people enjoy!

The door to the CEO’s office was, like always, shut. The little curtain had been pulled down over the door’s small square window, too. It seemed Ana Greer was busy, as any good CEO should be. Clopin smiled. It did his heart good to see these higher-ups busting their back for the enjoyment of the masses, and it did his heart even more good to rudely interrupt her for the fourth time this week.

Clopin swung open the door that, really, she should just learn to lock, and it smashed loudly against the wall. Ana didn’t even flinch; after all, this was pretty much routine at this point.

“Why, Ana,” he mused, his voice high-pitched and sing-song. “shouldn’t you be getting some work done?”

“The answer is still no.”

There truly was no humor in this woman.

Her eyes were boring holes into her computer monitor as she vigorously typed what Clopin was sure wasn’t nearly as important a document as she wanted him to think it was. “So is there anything else, or can you go ahead and see yourself out?”

He smiled, one of those not-at-all-genuine smiles. “No, I’m afraid I’m here about the sequel. Again.”

She sighed harshly. Still her eyes didn’t leave the monitor. “Well then, you have your answer.”

Clopin stepped into her office and spun one of the vacant chairs, sitting in it backwards. He could see Ana steaming, despite how cool she was trying to play herself. He chuckled and shook his head. “Oh but Ana, I don’t think you really understand what it is I’m asking.”

She finally made eye contact. “No, I know exactly what you’re asking.” She pulled a drawer open and pulled out a thick document. No doubt something financial and boring, something she thought would be enough to convince him against his quest. That Ana, ever prepared. “You want another sequel to _The Hunchback of Notre Dame_ , which is and always will be out of the question. And before you ask why, well, if you could look here for me…” She unclasped the document, separating the first few pages and sliding them across the table.

“As you see here,” she pointed to the first bolded figure, typed in red ink, “this is the money we lost on the second _Hunchback_ film.”

Clopin had seen this argument coming. “Which was straight-to-DVD, Ana. Not even Zephyr could get people to care about something like that. I think we can both agree that a film that actually goes to theatres would do much better, can’t we?”

“Tell that to the money we lost on _Return to Neverland_.” Yet again, a page with big, bold, red print slid his way.

“Hmm.” He cocked his head mockingly. “But that’s not exactly a big-budget production either, is it? Still Disney Toons, not Disney.”

Before he’d even finished speaking, more papers slid his way. This time she didn’t even bother explaining. “ _The Black Cauldron II_.”

Darn. She had gone for the big guns. This year’s addition to the Disney Canon had, admittedly, been a bigger box office bomb than even _Mars Needs Moms_ , which Clopin was pretty sure was mostly just because of how few people even remembered the first one existed. He gulped. Who knew how long it would be before his movie was completely forgotten too? He quickly reminded himself that even if it had bombed, it hadn’t totally been a wasted venture. He just was going to have to convince Ana to see past the financials for once. 

And it wouldn’t hurt to be a bit sarcastic with her first. “Well, but in my defense, it’s not like the first _Black Cauldron_ really made that much money anyway. Wasn’t really smart to make the movie anyway, if you ask me.” 

“ _The Hunchback of Notre Dame_ was no _Lion King_ , Clopin."

“Wow. How about you take that back, and then we can-“ 

Ana sighed, leaning forward to place her head in her hands. “Clopin, how many times are we going to do this? Everyone else is perfectly happy with their one movie, or two movies or whatever. I don’t see what’s so wrong with just meeting kids at Disneyworld and signing autographs. Don’t you love that kind of thing?” 

“Sure I do, but there’s a problem with that!” Clopin was sing-songy again, lest she get the idea that he was in any way actually sad. “How many kids do you think are clamoring to meet the seventh most important character in a film series older than half of these kids are anyway? Go ahead, guess." 

“Clopin, I’m sure-" 

“Absolutely none, Ana! But Taran and Eilonwy have lines now! Not big lines, sure, but I mean it’s better than a few years ago. Even Gurgi has kids asking for autographs. Gurgi! He hasn’t showered in 3 years but yesterday a 4-year-old girl told him she loved him. _Gurgi_!” He repeated, sure she had to see his point. 

“Kids still want to meet you, Clopin. You’re from a Disney classic. They’ll always love you.” 

“Not true.” He was genuinely a bit upset now. “There’s enough good new stuff out there these days. These kids don’t care about the classics. Who cares about Snow White or Belle when you have Elsa and Anna? Snow White is only named after the stuff, she can’t _control_ it. How’s she supposed to compete?” 

Ana only sighed again in response. 

“So I thought about it, and I’ve realized that the only way to solve this problem is to make another movie. Even if it bombs, honestly it’ll all be for the best." 

“How exactly would it all be for the best?" 

“Um, I would be popular again, of course.” 

Ana glared at him. She probably was so fed up with him at this point that she was losing her ability to come up with coherent sentences, which Clopin was definitely going to use to talk nonstop for the next, oh, hour or two. 

“Besides, what are you even planning next, anyway? The only movie you all have in production right now is that _Issun-Boshi_ thing, and we all know that only the weebs and the artsy kids are going to want to see that.” 

Apparently that broke her out of her fugue, because she was suddenly snapping at him. “ _Issun-Boshi_ is going to be a lovely adventure that everyone will enjoy, because it has heart and is authentic to the source material while still having a fresh feel!” 

“Yeah, sure, but in the meantime what about something tired that has nothing to do with the book it is based on? Hmm? Hmm?” 

Ana went stone-faced. “Get out of my office. Now.” 

“Oh, come on now, Ana-“ 

“We are not making this movie, no matter what arguments you attempt to make. There is not going to be a _Hunchback of Notre Dame 3_.” She stood and practically pushed him out of the office, slamming the door behind him. That had not exactly gone as planned. 

But Clopin was not one to give up lightly. Okay, no _Hunchback of Notre Dame 3_. Fine. He could figure out another way to get on the big screen. 


	2. Chapter 2

“But Jim!” Clopin whined, his elbows leaned on the table and his hands clasped together.

“You’ve already got a sequel and were in _Kingdom Hearts_ ,” Jim Hawkins sniped. “Can’t you just be grateful?”

“No, I refuse to be grateful. Besides, I wasn’t even in that level. They left me out completely.”

“At least there was a level for you to be left out of,” Tiana said over her shoulder. Jim nodded in frustration as she continued. “We ain’t got nothing but the one movie. We don’t even have a short!”

This was not going the way he had imagined it would. When he had invited the two over for lunch, sure he knew they’d be frustrated when they found out there would be no food. But all logic said that they should have been crying real-deal tears of joy when they heard he was offering them what they should recognize as the deal of a lifetime. The chance to be in a movie? Awesome! But alas, these two had instead spent the entire afternoon arguing that they ‘shouldn’t have believed him about the 3-bean salad’ and ‘had passed on a lunch date with Ariel thanks to him’. And the moment he finally got to the important part, all they could say was that he ‘really was crazy if he thought they’d jump at the chance to be in a movie with no script, plot, or financial backing.’ And they were calling _him_ ungrateful?

Clopin stood, shaking his head. “Come now, you two, I think you’re missing the point.”

Jim scoffed. “Which is?”

“If we all make a movie together, then we all have a sequel! And we can say goodbye to the little kids passing us by at the parks. We could be huge again!”

Tiana frowned. “It’s not exactly like I’m unpopular…”

Jim added quietly, as though he was ashamed to admit he agreed with Clopin even the slightest, “Well, but you _do_ deserve more.”

“We all do!” Clopin shouted happily. “And just think how big it would be, all of us making a movie together. We could get some of the others, too, I bet anything Kida and Kenai would want to be a part of this. People would lose their minds! It would be like _The House of Mouse_ , except with losers like us! I’d pay to see that, wouldn’t you?”

“So you’re sure this isn’t just gonna be _The Black Cauldron II_ all over again?” Tiana snarked.

“Definitely not,” Clopin said, one hand over his heart and the other raised in a ‘scouts honor’ salute. “People will want to see our movie, I’m sure.”

Jim and Tiana exchanged worried glances. It was true, as time had gone on their fandoms had dwindled. Jim’s was already running on fumes and with a new princess movie like _Issun-Boshi_ coming out Tiana had yet another film to try and hold her own against. Who knew if this would be the final nail in her proverbial coffin? And it wasn’t like trying something like this would exactly hurt them…

In a hushed tone, Tiana asked, “Do you think it’s worth it?”

Jim shrugged his shoulders. “It’s better than all the music videos I have to do on YouTube these days. Each one’s just a new excuse to have me make out with someone. Whatever he’s planning, it’s gotta be less humiliating than that.”

She bit her lip. Were they really going to do this? Agree to be in some project just to be important again? A project that, she reminded herself, had no script or concept or… well, anything? Just to get more fans? She still had a lot, she wasn’t exactly a forgotten character like these two were, and she had a new restaurant in the parks now to get the kids excited again. Or was she just lying to herself to spare herself the disappointment of knowing it was all behind her? And for Jim and Clopin, as well as any others who might agree to this, something like this might be their only chance for a while. Did she owe it to them to try and help?

Tiana looked back at Clopin. “If you can get some others-“ she began, but Clopin was barely listening. He could tell from the tone of her voice that this was a yes, and he had heard so little of that lately that he couldn’t help begin celebrating right then and there.

“Hey, Clopin!” Jim hissed. “This isn’t a yes. Only if the others want to join too, and only if some director actually will make it.”

Clopin nodded. “Got it. A yes from both of you.”

Tiana and Jim both rolled their eyes in unison. But as agitating as the whole thing was, both had to admit it was rather exciting to actually have a real project to work on. They weren’t about to tell Clopin that, but he had been right. Something like this could actually work, and if it all worked out like he thought it would then they could actually finally find themselves back in the spotlight. This was doable. Even if it meant working with Clopin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna be juggling this and another longfic or two for a little while, so there will be updates coming but it's not gonna be at the most regular of intervals. I'd give some kind of update schedule here but really it's just gonna be "it'll update when it updates," haha.


End file.
